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As the founder and COO of the first and largest cryptocurrency retirement program in the U.S., I’m seeing enormous demand from individuals and experiencing Bitcoin’s dramatic growth in price and adoption firsthand.

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Bitcoin had a record-breaking year in 2017, taking a volatile growth course from $900 at the start of the year to $6,300 by October. But skeptics like hedge fund manager Ray Dalio and JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon have thumbed their proverbial noses and given cries of “bubble” and “fraud.” While other investment experts like Tom Lee, former JP Morgan director and popular Wall Street strategist, believe that the price of Bitcoin will continue to climb, likely reaching $55,000 within five years.

Based on my experience in the space, I believe it will become the best high-growth investment of 2018, far surpassing its meteoric rise already this year. Here are my top five reasons why:

1. Bitcoin’s Adoption Will Explode In 2018

Bitcoin is growing in adoption across the world.

In April 2017, Bitcoin officially became a method of payment in Japan. Now, over 260,000 food establishments and retail locations stores are accepting cryptocurrency. Japan’s widespread adoption and acceptance of Bitcoin sets a precedent for other countries. As other governments consider how to approach cryptocurrencies, the success of Bitcoin in a leading country like Japan is likely to be influential

Trading volumes are also up worldwide. Bitcoin has seen a 55% increase in transaction volume in 2017, along with 30,000 new wallets created daily. Rumors that Amazon will soon begin accepting Bitcoin are persistent. If the retail giant does begin accepting Bitcoin, the movement of cryptocurrency will be unstoppable.

In 2018, we expect to see a dramatic increase in oversight and regulation for cryptocurrencies and, as a result, we expect to see established financial institutions invest billions of new money in the space.

ETFs are widely expected to be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2018. This would allow major financial institutions to start investing in the space and provide their clients with new investment options. ETFs would open Bitcoin to a significantly larger group of investors who are uncomfortable with buying coins and storing them securely.

Aside from ETFs, the newly launched LedgerX is now available for options trading and is licensed as both a swap execution facility (SEF) and a derivatives clearing organization (DCO). An Overstock.com subsidiary called tZero has also recently gained regulatory compliance with the SEC and FINRA for an alternative trading system (ATS) for blockchain assets.

CME Group, a strategic partner of BitGo, recently announced its intentions to launch Bitcoin futures in the final quarter of 2017. The growth of Bitcoin derivatives is another step toward the establishment of Bitcoin. CME Group, the leading global exchange for options and futures trading, is the latest entrant into offering derivatives for Bitcoin.

These new government-compliant companies represent the beginning of a larger movement toward oversight and safety that will allow larger financial institutions to jump on board.

3. Disruption Of The Status Quo Will Continue

Technologies like Uber, Airbnb and Alibaba have disrupted major industries almost overnight, and Bitcoin is poised to do the same with the monetary system.

The blockchain technology upon which Bitcoin is built is revolutionary and expanding rapidly. There are now 1,200 new cryptocurrency variations available on the market attempting to solve unique problems using the technology.

Ripple (XRP) is set to completely change the way transactions across borders happen around the world. Instead of fighting blockchain, banks are beginning to work with Ripple to build a new, more transparent system. In a similarly disruptive fashion, Civic coin is using blockchain for identity verification and protection for both businesses and individuals. Civic is giving power back to the people to protect their identities.

And it’s only the beginning.

4.Trust In Wall Street Is Gone: Blockchain Is The New Messiah

The world hasn’t yet forgotten the subprime business dealings that led to the 2008 financial crisis. We watched in disbelief as our own tax dollars were used to save the very banks that had caused the stock market to crash in the first place. JP Morgan received a $13 billion bailout, and Wells Fargo had more recently created large-scale fake account fraud under their customers' names for years to pump up their stock price.

Wall Street can no longer be trusted by financial institutions.

Bitcoin was developed after the poor financial practices from the economic collapse in 2009. At that time, the transferring of funds between parties required a middleman, a bank or a broker. Bitcoin, however, with its innovative blockchain technology, entirely eliminates the need for a central bank by providing a way to safely transfer money directly from one individual to another. It’s fully transparent and bypasses the unnecessary fees and systematic failures from traditional banks.

As a greater number of companies recognize Bitcoin’s technology applications, we’ll likely see a fundamental paradigm shift in the landscape. Rules that have existed for decades -- even centuries -- will shift.

5. Bitcoin’s Accessibility Will Dramatically Increase

When Bitcoin first launched, it was solely a peer-to-peer currency system, and it took an industrious and tech-savvy person to figure out the process of buying Bitcoin and storing it safely.

Today, sites like Coinbase.com have made Bitcoin easy to use and accessible to the masses. These sites provide a one-stop shop for cryptocurrency, making it easy to buy, sell, trade and store a variety of cryptocurrencies.

Major retailers like Overstock and Expedia have also begun accepting it as payment, and countries across the world have begun opening up exchanges and accepting bitcoin as an official currency.Our company, BitcoinIRA.com, allows investors to hold actual Bitcoin in their retirement accounts.

These five reasons will be a pivot point for Bitcoin in 2018, and savvy investors with strong volatility and risk tolerance could see explosive gains.